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I understand this is a complex issue but I wonder if someone here can shed some light on the current understanding of this situation.

I am a Portuguese father of two living in Germany. My wife is German. I have two children (aged 5 and 7). Both were born in England. Until ages 2.5 and 4.5 (while we were still in England) I talked to them in Portuguese, they would listen to English during their daily lives and my wife spoke German. They were trilingual in the sense that they understood Portuguese and German but they spoke mainly English.

Once we came to Germany, since they lost any English connection I started speaking English to them, my wife kept speaking German but now they hear German in their daily lives.

The problem is that they mostly lost their Portuguese and their English is rather poor as I am their sole source of English. Their German is close to native now but I don't speak German properly, having trouble understanding what they say.

Is it possible for children to gain fluency in a language (in this case Portuguese) if I started speaking Portuguese to them (therefore dropping English), given I would be their sole source of Portuguese and as a full time worker I only spend weekends and evenings with them?

Paulo Matos
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  • It's certainly possible, but they will likely end up using it only to the degree it's needed to communicate with you in the settings they share with you, rather than developing a robust and varied language. But if you use it inventively and engagingly (e.g. read and discuss good Portuguese books with them) even that might require them to keep some fluency. Also, your English seems good. If you're only concerned about an accent being passed on, maybe it's not the end of the world, and you can partly counteract it with YouTube videos and such showing a variety of kids their age. – Luke Sawczak Jun 12 '18 at 10:17
  • Thanks @LukeSawczak My biggest concern is that I will start speaking Portuguese with them and they will progressively lose their English but not getting fluent enough in Portuguese, which means in the end I won't be able to communicate properly with them (assuming I don't improve my German). Also, my daughter is already 7 so she might be already outside the language-sponge years for language acquisition. – Paulo Matos Jun 12 '18 at 10:44
  • Seven is rarely too old, don't worry. :) The "critical period" probably extends to early teens. I've got a friend who came from Ukraine to Canada at ten and speaks great English with no accent... As for your concern, agreed that you should probably focus on one or the other if you want them to be able to communicate with you as fluently as possible. Either way, it never hurts to bolster your input with media that appeals to them and they're likely to emulate. For English, for example, they can see and talk like their peers on the React YouTube channel. – Luke Sawczak Jun 12 '18 at 10:57
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    From a very pragmatical point of view, you should speak Portuguese to your children. It's your native language, so they won't be exposed to a broken version. German school system is pretty good at teaching English, and the early exposure to it helps your children when it comes back as a school subject. On the other side, Portuguese is not taught in German schools. – Sir Cornflakes Jun 12 '18 at 12:00
  • Just speak your native language, Portuguese, to your children. If you do not start doing this soon you will likely have regrets.

    Their English will be fine - they had early exposure, they have parents who presumably speak it to each other, they learn it in school, they will use it in the real world. In fact with solid knowledge of a typical Germanic language and a Romance language they will be stronger in the literary English language than most native English speakers.

     – Adam Bittlingmayer Jun 12 '18 at 12:31
  • To answer the question, just speaking a language with one parent is enough to be perfectly fluent if that parent is disciplined, but given your context and goals you can and probably should also arrange for situations where other people or content they enjoy are also most accessible in Portuguese. – Adam Bittlingmayer Jun 12 '18 at 12:31

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